Brooklyn Man Accused in Girlfriend’s Torture

A Brooklyn man was ordered held without bail for allegedly kidnapping his girlfriend then torturing her in his Brooklyn apartment for a month.

Anthony Matthews, 31 years old, is accused of taking his 26-year-old girlfriend from her father’s Peekskill home on June 29, telling her that he’d kill her family if she refused to go with him, the criminal complaint states.

He entered a not guilty plea at his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court.

Inside his Bainbridge Street apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Mr. Matthews allegedly tied the woman up with phone wires and extension cords and subjected the woman to continued abuse.

According to the criminal complaint, Mr. Matthews repeatedly beat her with a large piece of wood and burned her with a hot iron and screwdriver heated with a lighter. He also is accused of breaking her teeth and threatening to kill her while sticking a gun in her mouth.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the couple had an “on and off relationship” and that the victim was in “some form of involuntary custody” for about two years.

“She was mutilated, she was assaulted in this continuing relationship,” he said.

Mr. Matthews dropped the woman off at his mother’s home and said the victim had been “attacked or assaulted by someone else,” Kelly said.

Then on Wednesday, the mother took the woman to the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where she was admitted into the intensive care unit.

According to the complaint, she was in septic shock and had less than half the amount of blood in her body that a woman of her age and size should.

Doctor’s found that she had fractured ribs, spinal damage, a broken nose and multiple burns, including some so deep that her bones were exposed.

Mr. Matthews was arrested Wednesday at his home. He faces charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon.

He served 11 years in prison on charges of criminal possession of a weapon, assault and reckless endangerment.

Ruby Moses, who lives next door to Mr. Matthews’ apartment, said she first noticed that Mr. Matthew was living on the block a few weeks ago and interacted with him only once.

She called the allegations “the most horrendous thing I’ve ever heard of.”

“This happened next door to me,” she added. “I never heard a sound–not a peep.”